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By Bret Mitchell
HCC Sports
Information
Sunday, January
20, 2008
COLBY
– The Hutchinson Community College women’s basketball team had its
fourth-best shooting performance of the season to put away the cold-shooting
Colby Trojans 65-44 in a Jayhawk Conference Western Division battle on
Sunday afternoon at the Colby Community Building.
The
Lady Dragons (16-3, 5-0 Jayhawk West) won their ninth consecutive game, the
longest winning streak since 2005-06. The victory also meant that HCC
started a conference season 5-0 for the first time since 1986.
HCC
shot 50.0 percent from the field (22 of 44), 8 of 19 from 3-point range.
After struggling from the free-throw line in the past two games, Hutchinson
was even more efficient from the foul line, cashing in on 13 of 14 attempts.
The
Lady Dragons again had a balanced attack with three players in double
figures. Freshman Brittany Hines was the leading scorer for the second time
this season with 13 points. Freshman point guard Lauren Sparks had her
fifth-straight game scoring in double figures with 11. Sophomore Amanda
Fessenden posted her fourth double-double of the season with 10 points and
11 rebounds. HCC did commit 24 turnovers.
HCC
outrebounded Colby 40-28
“It’s
really nice when you have three to four girls in double figures,” Fessenden
said. “It takes the pressure off any one person.”
Defensively, the Lady Dragons were solid in shutting down on of Region VI’s
top 3-point shooting teams. Shooting nearly 44 percent from behind the arc
for the season, Colby was held to a dreadful 2 of 18 from long range, 0 of 8
in the second half.
“Our
defense is what drives us,” Hines said.
Overall, Colby shot a dismal 25.5 percent (14 of 55). The leading free-throw
shooting team in the nation, the Trojans were 14 of 19 from the stripe on
Sunday.
The
Trojans (8-12, 3-3) had no players in double figures. Leading scorer with
Sandra Sormaz had nine points on 3 of 12 shooting.
Fessenden opened the game with a 3-pointer, which was the start of a 10-2
opening run for the Lady Dragons. HCC’s advantage never dropped below four
in the first half.
Leading 25-19 with 4:52 to play, HCC scored six unanswered points and led
31-19 with 2:07 to play after a Fairen Lepaio jump shot. Sormaz knocked down
her only 3-pointer of the game with 1:14 to play, but Lanikia Lawrence’s
drive to the hoop with 24 seconds left sent HCC into halftime with a 33-22
lead.
Hutchinson outscored Colby 14-8 over the first 6 minutes, 50 seconds of the
second half. Freshman Kylee Naccarato sank back-to-back 3-pointers and
Sparks had a layup and conventional three-point play during the run. After a
Morgan Leatherbury baseline trey, HCC led 47-30 with 13:10 to play in the
game.
Leading 49-34, Hines had a personal 7-0 run on a pair of back-cuts to the
hoop for layups and a 3-point goal to give HCC its first 20-point lead at
54-34 with 8:11 to play.
Colby
pulled within 13 at 54-41 with 4:22 to play, but Hutchinson outscored Colby
11-3 the rest of the way to close out their second-straight victory in the
Colby Community Building.
The
Blue Dragons begin a big two-game homestand on Wednesday night as No. 21
Barton County comes to the Sports Arena for a 5:30 p.m. tipoff.
GAME NOTES
– Fessenden continues her move up the all-time scoring charts, jumping two
spots into 21st place with 666 points, now 17 points away from moving into
the top 20. … HCC has now won three straight against Colby, after losing a
series-high eight games in a row to the Trojans. HCC leads the all-time
series 25-12. … HCC has now outrebounded 17 of 19 opponents this season. …
This was the seventh time this season that HCC has held an opponent to less
than 30-percent shooting. … HCC is 15-0 when leading at halftime.
<HCC
WOMEN-COLBY BOXSCORE>
OTHER QUOTES
Head Coach John Ontjes
On
the offensive success…
“We’re becoming a better passing team. Offensively when we can execute its
hard to key in on one person.
On
the defense…
“Our
girls got out and defended the 3-point line. We were very physical with
them.”
Sophomore Guard Amanda Fessenden
On
stopping Colby…
“We
prepared really well for this team. We played pretty good defense.”
On
the state of the team…
“We
are confident, but not too confident.”
Freshman Guard Brittany Hines
On
the offensive balance…
“We
have a lot of good shooters. We have confidence in everybody.”
On
the Colby offense…
“We
had to break down their offense, do certain things with screens.” |
